Ilona Kacieja

Creative Industry
Design
Mixed media
Painting & Drawing
Photography
Printmaking
Video
Visual Arts

Ilona Kacieja especially likes painting and collage as a technique for artistic expression. It is the colour of the oil paint and the fragments of life captured in fractions of photos or scraps of newspapers that became the materials in the artist’s research. Her experiments, at first close to nature, with time began to move towards painted abstractions. The artistic path through the spaces of colour is sometimes characterised by strong colour accents, other times by bold contrasts or also completely gentle tonal transitions. The artist plays with colour and form, looking for the right path, but the enormity of the paths she wants to follow suggests that her art will always be characterised by movement and curiosity. Trying to classify Ilona’s work, we can find two currents there, which, although they are derived from similar visionary and mysterious inspirations, although the form in which the artist gives them to us, is different, which also makes them be perceived in a completely different way. The works of “Sommerfeld”, “The Doors”, “Deep Below” are characterised by a heavy texture, almost close to the texture of the master van Gogh, to whom the artist pays a peculiar tribute by mentioning him as her inspiration. However, her latest inspirations almost follow the laws of art history and the artist refers to the creators of the avant-garde circle. Subtle pictures on the border of figurative and abstract with pastel colours and light blurs. In addition to daring borrowings and perverse play with the images of world-famous works (Munch’s Madonna in the painting “Akt Tej która Zbieg?a”), the work is also marked with personal accents. It is the artist’s impatient search and only seemingly jumping from one topic to another, from one style to another, which in fact gives us a coherent image, the image of the creator of the seeker, the inquisitive and curious explorer.

I am a graduate from Edinburgh College of Art with a Special Distinction Prize. I was nominated for a Grierson Award, London, and for BAFTA New Talent Glasgow. I have a Scottish Higher National Diploma in Animation. I strongly believe that through visual communication impact I can support social justice, empowerment, addressing inequalities, diversity and inclusivity, learning and development, and valuing all women.

As a traditional fine art painter Ilona feels like the future of art is in immersive VR, and she wants to dig deeper into this subject. Recently she has attended ‘Artists Into Immersive Labs’ where she learned about immersive production. She is making progress into a new field- immersive VR 3D painting and making traditional fine art painting skills and techniques more contemporary and digital. She believes there is great potential in this ‘new’ practice and could be developed and applied to many different fields. For example: performance, dance, design, sound, games, visual arts, film, theatre.

Art Exhibitions:

Scottish Arts Club Winter Exhibition (Group) Edinburgh, December 2022- January 2023

Scottish Arts Club Summer Exhibition (Group) Edinburgh, July 2022

“Our Landscapes”, Scottish Arts Club Exhibition (Group) Edinburgh, February 2022

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaCAxEfMURH/

Scottish Arts Club Winter Exhibition (Group) Edinburgh 2020 and 2021

East Linton Annual Art Show, online, September 2021

Glasgow Art Club (Group) Summer Exhibition 2019

Summer Exhibition 2018, Gubin/ Guben, Poland/ Germany

Open air painting workshops in Gubin, Poland. “Wiosna nad Nysa” 9-11 June, 2017. Exhibition in Gallery Dom Kultury, Gubin.

Glasgow School of Art (Group) Exhibition 2010, Scotland

14.02- 28.02. 1999, “Galeria Prowincjonalna” Slubice, Poland

Duo Exhibition with art performance and poerty: Ilona Kacieja & Magda Pyzio,

22.03.1998, Fabrik e.V. Guben, Germany

Group Exhibition, pantomime and art performance with the group “Er-band”

Commissions

Artists Into Immersive Award 2021, Traditional Fine Art Painter Into Immersive, Glasgow

School of Art and National Film and TV School

University of The West of Scotland commission to produce/ and managing: website and the project’s social media including Mobile Digital Art Exhibition and a memorial plaque

(1st Exhibition took place at City Art Centre Edinburgh on the 22nd February 2019)

https://www.renfrewshire24.co.uk/2019/06/27/uws-to-commemorate-dorothee-pullinger-with

-heritage-plaque-at-paisley-campus/

Awards

Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award, North

Lanarkshire 2021/2022

Special Distinction Prize- The Iris Fairgrive Rainer Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art,

Scotland, 2013

Special Distinction Art Prize for “ Ona Cierpi na Chroniczny Bronchit” (“She suffers from

Chronic Bronchitis”), (Fine Art, Painting) at Salon jesienny “ XXIV Wojewódzki Konkurs

Plastyki Nieprofesjonalnej” , Zary, Poland, 2003

Filmography/ Moving Image:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5632003/

Glasgow Lux, Critical Art Forum Group 2020-2021

https://vimeo.com/user2631811

Strathclyde Park representation at COP26, Episode aired Nov 2, 2021 Glasgow

“DOCMA” DOCMA #097 EARTH (TV Episode 2021) – IMDb

Cinema, CCA, Glasgow, 06.03.2019- representing discussion panel

Symposium, Screenings “Out of the Past, Into the Present: Reframing Heritage through Art Practice”

Exhibition City Art Centre Edinburgh, “Audacious Woman”, The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) commission, Mobile Project Art exhibition, 22nd February 2019

GRIERSON, British Documentary Award 2013, nominated Best Student Documentary,

London

BAFTA New Talent 2014, nominated Best Factual

Winner: Un Certain Regards Award, Van d’Or 2013 London

Winner: Best Short Documentary, Carmarthen Bay Film Festival 2014

Nomination Best Directing in a Short Documentary, and Best Short Documentary,

Portsmouth International Film Festival 2014

Nomination Best Film Glasgow Film Festival 2014

Winner: Highly Commended, Best Short Documentary, Scottish Mental Health Film And

Arts Festival

Winner: Menzione Speciale at Corto Doc in Italy 2015

Winner: Best Film, Shortpole Film Festival London 2016

Nomination: Best Director, Shortpole 2016

Winner: Best Short Documentary, Manchester Film Festival 2016

Film Screenings:

The public screenings of Red Dust + community engagements and discussion took place between April 2014-2015 at St Patrick’s Church Hall, Craigneuk, North Lanarkshire

DOCUMENT 11 International Human Rights Film Festival CCA Glasgow 2013

GSFF 2014, Glasgow Short Film Festival 2014 CCA

Carmarthen Bay Film Festival 2014

Lochness Film Festival 2014

Portsmouth International Film Festival 2014

The Scottish Parliament screening with the community engagement and MP attendance25 September 2014

Marbella International Film Festival 2014

Astra Film Festival, Romania 2014

Scottish Mental Health Film and Arts Festival 2014

Visioni Corte, Italy 2015

Global Health Film Festival, London 2015

Input Documentary & Television Festival, The Netherlands 2015

Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2015

Kinofilm International Film Festival Manchester

selected works

The Wasps Trust is a charity registered in Scotland (SC022115).

Workshop & Artists Studio Provision (Scotland) Limited is a charity registered in Scotland (SC001351).

It is also a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC062117).

Wasps Creative Industries C.I.C. is a community interest company registered in Scotland (SC383609)

The registered office for the above 3 entities is: The Briggait, 141 Bridgegate, Glasgow, G1 5HZ.

Telephone: 0141 553 5890 | Email: info@waspsstudios.org.uk

Website by: Parachute